Police say man went on second robbery spree

While out on bond

The 23-year-old Crawford man was arrested in May for robbing two local convenience stores, when he pretended to buy Mountain Dew but grabbed cash from open registers.

A surveillance camera showed Williams wearing a shirt proclaiming "It's All Good" in the first robbery, Athens-Clarke police said, and he confessed to the crime a week later, when officers stopped his pickup while he was driving from another robbery on Prince Avenue.

On Monday night - while out on bond for the earlier robberies - Williams allegedly went on a robbery spree in Clarke, Oglethorpe and Madison counties, police said.

As before, Williams pretended to be a customer at several convenience stores and fast-food restaurants and grabbed cash when clerks opened registers, according to police.

Investigators suspect Williams might be a drug addict who was desperate for cash.

He committed his first robbery Monday evening in Crawford, then made his way west on U.S. Highway 78 into Clarke County, robbing more stores along the way, according to Capt. Clarence Holeman, assistant commander of the Athens-Clarke police Criminal Investigations Division.

Williams drove from the robberies in a burgundy Pontiac Grand Am registered to his wife, police said, and when he was done for the night, he returned to Travelodge hotel on North Milledge Avenue, where he was staying with a Nicholson man, police said.

Williams loaned the car to his companion to buy a pack of cigarettes, and when the man went to a store nearby that was closed, he flagged down a police officer to ask where he could find an open store, according to police.

The officer recognized the car from a look-out that authorities had issued for the robberies, police said, and the Nicholson man led officers to the motel room where they found Williams.

Williams told the officers his friend knew nothing about the robberies, according to police.

Athens-Clarke investigators charged Williams with two counts of robbery, for taking an undisclosed amount of money from Krystal, 4005 Lexington Road, and Golden Pantry, 1880 W. Broad St. They also charged him with criminal attempt to commit robbery for trying to steal cash from another Golden Pantry, at the corner of West Broad Street and North Milledge Avenue, police said.

During the attempted robbery at Golden Pantry, Williams gave the clerk change for a $2 cigar, and as the clerk counted the money, Williams reached over the counter and stuck his hand in the till.

The clerk slammed the register drawer on Williams' hand, but he still managed to grab a few bills, according to police.

Williams is a suspect in other convenience store robberies Monday night - two in Oglethorpe County and another in Madison County, police said.

He wore the same camouflage jacket in the other robberies when he grabbed two $10 bills from a register at Golden Pantry on Georgia Highway 72 in Hull about 7:30 p.m. Monday, according to a Madison County sheriff's report.

Williams allegedly committed two snatch robberies in Oglethorpe County on Monday evening, one at a Golden Pantry in Crawford, but police didn't have information about the second robbery.

Officials at that county's sheriff's office could not be reached Tuesday.